2008-2013 Cadillac CTS General Discussion Discussion, Sub Standard Black Raven Paint? in Cadillac CTS Second Generation Forum - 2008-2013; Does anyone else think the paint on their cts is poor? I find that it scratches very easily. I have ...

2013 black raven paint issues

Does anyone else think the paint on their cts is poor? I find that it scratches very easily. I have even scratched it with a clean microfiber towel. I recently hit the trunklid with my fingernail which scratched the clearcoat and now I can't polish out the scratches. I have even noticed some dust and small hairs or lint in the factory paintjob here and there in places on the car. The car was purchased brand new from the dealer but the paint IMO sucks. I think gm should look into the type of paint they are spraying on the cadillac.

Re: 2013 black raven paint issues

You re right-the black looks great, but I am too ocd for this color. I am just surprised as how easiy it scratches and the imperfections in the factory paint. I tried a 3m 3000 grit polish, a turtle war clear coat safe polish, and both did nothing to remove the surface scratches and in two cases scratched the clearcoat worse. I am not sure what to do to remove the scratches in the clear. I may take it to a detailer who did my window tinting.

Re: 2013 black raven paint issues

Originally Posted by HGK2

You re right-the black looks great, but I am too ocd for this color. I am just surprised as how easiy it scratches and the imperfections in the factory paint. I tried a 3m 3000 grit polish, a turtle war clear coat safe polish, and both did nothing to remove the surface scratches and in two cases scratched the clearcoat worse. I am not sure what to do to remove the scratches in the clear. I may take it to a detailer who did my window tinting.

Are you doing this by hand?

You will not perform corrections on GM Clear by hand. You need at a minimum M205/105 and a Random orbital like a 7424XP.

Unfortunately, all GM Ceramic clear I've had is like this. Easily damaged, hard to polish. I've no idea how they manged to do this, but Black Raven uses the same clear as the rest of the colors in the Cadillac Lineup. It's simply that it's a flat black that you notice everything.

You want some real advice?

Quit being so damn OCD. I was like you once, I fretted over the most minute imperfections, it drove me crazy, and at once point I was 6 months into an ordeal of 4 resprays on a certain rear bumper. Eventually though, I've grown to realize that the time I spent stressing on the car was better spent enjoying it and driving it.

No one will notice that there's a 2" scratch on the 1/4 panel. They'll 95% of the time see the car 20' away while passing, and when washed and polished, it'll look just as nice.

That's not to say I treat it like a work truck, but all the fiddly small paint chips and tiny scratches? They don't bother me anymore. The ATS I have now, if I were the same person I was a year go, would be at the dealer getting resprayed or corrected in some fashion.

These are not quarter million dollar ferrari's. Don't spend your time treating it as such. Drive it.

Re: 2013 black raven paint issues

My wife thinks the same as I wax the car every two weeks. I still think the paint scratches too easily. My 07 vettes paint was way more durable. Perhaps this is my last blk car. If gm still had the monterey red that my vette had i wouldn't have gotten black this time either. Until then I'll think about a car therapist for my ocd issues with the cars asthetics.

Life is too short man, stop going nuts over the car and instead of waxing it every two weeks, take the wife out to dinner. I'm on my 3rd black Cadillac, and there's a notable difference with the water based paints, but its not the end of the world. Your car doesn't need to be spotless for you to enjoy life

Re: 2013 black raven paint issues

HGK2,

If I were you I would buy the black turtle wax kit, they have a bottle of black pre wax, which fills in a lot of little scratches and swirl marks, and then you can polish it with mequires or Zano(sp) wax. I have been trying to fiqure out where my scratches have been coming from and I'm going to blame it on the micro fibre towels,most of them are made out of polyester, that is like taking John travoltas shirt he wore in Saturday Night Fever and wrapping it up in a ball and polishing your car with it. You have to buy 100% cotton T-Shirts or cotton baby diapers. Now polyester would of done a beautiful job on some of the old cars which had a hard paint finish, but not on the new cars.

My wife thinks the same as I wax the car every two weeks. I still think the paint scratches too easily. My 07 vettes paint was way more durable. Perhaps this is my last blk car. If gm still had the monterey red that my vette had i wouldn't have gotten black this time either. Until then I'll think about a car therapist for my ocd issues with the cars asthetics.

I have the black diamond and I think that tends to be a little more forgiving than Black Raven. That said, with a black car you better forget about any kind of automatic car wash if you don't want swirls. Hand wash only with a good mitt with a long matte. Microfiber towels only and lots of wax.

My car looks great, but you can occasionally see a swirl mark (more like a line or two) if the sun hits it just right.

I owned white cars for most of my life, my last Acura was my first darker car (Carbon Grey) which took more work, but is no where near as bad as black.

When I was shopping for my coupe, I went into it thinking I was getting the White Diamond, and then I saw Black Raven and I started having second thoughts, and then was hooked when I saw Black Diamond.

Re: 2013 black raven paint issues

I have a 2010 Black Raven wagon, and I cringe every time I look at the paint close up in the garage. I know, flourescents bring out every detail in the paint. At first I thought the previous owner brought it through a car wash and managed to scratch it to hell. Its like razor blade thin scratches in consistent patterns all over the car. So I drove to my local dealership, saw another Raven car, and yep, just as bad.

The Meguiars Black wax helps, I got the 2 or 3 step kit, and it comes with black detailer. That stuff works and most scratches are hardly noticable unless you are close up or in the garage. But this was after a 2 bucket wash, clay bar, 3 different compounds/polishes, and about 5 coats of the multi step wax. Yes, I have a lot of free time on my hands lol. I find Black Raven looks way better than Black Diamond ONLY when it is clean. The Diamond hides everything, which will look better 90% of the time.

I blame it on the clear coat. I have a friend who owns a body shop, and when I have had enough of it (soon) we will wet sand and throw some (better) more clear coats on her.

Re: 2013 black raven paint issues

I had my one obligatory black Cadillac, just like I had to have a red Corvette. That said black was one in and then out. No more black for me. I have the switchblade silver which for the most part is very forgiving , but my garage has daylight bulbs which tend to highlight even the slightest imperfection. I switched to a synthetic wax that seems to fill in a lot of the scratches as long as they are just surface scratches. This makes the car a lot easier for me to live with.